The Citadel
by ShadowJ51
Summary: Part 9 of a series. Sequel to ReverseRebirth. The digidestined face the final battle against the ultimate enemy... but who will be left alive when it's all over?
1. Say Hello to Thoda

Say Hello to Thoda

Shadow- "New part of the story, so here's the by now-routine intro:

Welcome to the start of part nine! To new readers, welcome! And to old readers, welcome back! If you haven't read part one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight of my story (The Coming Sunset, Nightfall, Through the Darkness, Road to Dawn, Mainframe, Dark Worlds, Hidden World, and Reverse/Rebirth), please go to my profile page, and read those first. Or else this part won't make any sense to you whatsoever.

And to long-time readers: Thank you for reading this far! The story contiues exactly where it left off, so long you'll feel right at home. Enjoy this chapter!"

Renamon- "Shadow does not own digimon."

Shadow- "And please review. You're doing so well! Keep it up!"

* * *

**digital world, separate, city: thoda**

At the outskirts of the city of Thoda, only a few digimon lived. The weak, the destitute, those waiting to be deleted. Here, a small digimon waits for the end. Sitting alone, he wishes his house had not been destroyed in the fighting a few days ago. _But at least its been quiet since then..._

A sudden light forces him to shield his eyes. After it dissipates, he looks over. He does a double take.

Not only are the six digidestined there, but so are a lot of others. _Oh shit... not again..._

The digimon gets up, turns, and walks away from the town. _Oh well... it was good while it lasted..._

**digital world, separate, city: thoda**

"Here we are!" Erika shouted. "Thoda!"

"Wow!" said Yolee. "It's like a water park here!"

"Well, there is a reason they call it 'The City of Water'..." Aucemon muttered.

Steve sighed. "Whatever... look, let's just get going to the citadel, so we can kill this Sac-whatever, and get home."

"Umm..." Ryan said. "Shouldn't we go see that old guy first? That... Gen... thingy..."

"You mean Genai?" Carrie asked.

"Genai?!?!" Izzy shouted. "He's here?!"

Carrie winced. "Yeah... and can you not scream in my ear?"

"We have to go see him!" Tai yelled. "Where is he?!"

Erika and the other four looked at Carrie. "...what?"she asked.

"...well, if you remembered his name..."

Carrie sighed. "Fine... let's get going..."

**digital world, separate**

Carrie led the others to the side of the main water temple. She found the spot Genai had opened, and knocked a few times.

No response.

Carrie sighed. "Well, that's that."

"Are you sure you didn't get the spot wrong?" Josh asked.

Carrie nodded. "I'm sure."

"But we can't just leave!" Tai protested. "We have to find Genai!"

A door slide open a few feet down the wall. "Did someone say my name?"

"Genai!"

Genai's extremely bushy eyebrows raised. "Children? What... oh, never mind... Get in here."

Josh elbowed Carrie in the ribs. "See? I told'ya you got the spot wrong."

"Actually, I like to move my house from time to time." Genai said as the digidestined filed in. "Keeps the enemy guessing."

"Yeah... five feet..." Carrie muttered. "That's gonna help..."

Once the last of the digidestined and their digimon filed in, Genai moved around to the stove. "I'm afraid I can't get some muffins on such short notice, but are biscuits okay?"

Tai shook his head. "Later. What are you doing here?"

Genai smiled. "You didn't think I'd stick around to get deleted when the worlds collided, did you?"

"Well, how'd you escape?" Izzy asked.

"Well, how did you get here?"

"Our digivices." Izzy said showing the new design the Huanglongmon had made to Genai.

Genai looked closely at it. He nodded. "It's basically like that."

"But if you could leave, why didn't leave earlier?"

Genai laughed. "What, and miss the opportunity to fix muffins for more than myself? Speaking of which..." Genai reached over to the oven, and pulled out some muffins. "Who wants some?"

A large explosion drowned out anyone's reply. The muffins, and quite a few digidestined, were knocked to the ground.

Tai stood up. "Maybe later, Genai. It sounds like we have work to do."

The digidestined ran out of Genai's house, their digivices glowing.

Genai picked up one of the muffins, brushed it off, and bit into it. He shrugged. "Needs anchovies."

**digital world, separate, city: thoda**

Smoke poured out of a nearby building as the digidestined ran out to face the new threat.

A giant winged horse stood nearby, blasting fire at the city. One wing spread back gracefully, covered in snow-white feathers. The other was pitch black and bony, and didn't look like it was still alive, let alone able to lift the digimon into the air.

The horse turned to face them. If it was at all surprised to see so may digidestined, it didn't show it. Instead, it grinned. "Excellent, a chance to prove my power to the master!" it whinnied before sending a fireball flying right at the digidestined.


	2. Say Goodbye to Thoda

Say Goodbye to Thoda

Shadow- "Second chapter. And yes, bad stuff happens a lot in my fanfics."

Renamon- "Shadow does not own digimon"

Shadow- "Oh, and PLEASE REVIEW!"

* * *

**digital world, separate, city: thoda**

The digidestined stared up at the digimon that was attacking the city. The giant winged horse spotted them, and grinned. "Excellent, a chance to prove my power to the master!" it whinnied before sending a fireball flying right at the digidestined.

"We'll see about that!" Erika yelled, the light from her digivice combining with the others.

DIGIVOLUTION

"Greymon!"

"Garurumon!"

"Kabuterimon!"

"Birdramon!"

"Togemon!"

"Ikkakumon!"

"Angemon!"

"Exveemon!"

"Ankylomon!"

"Auquilamon!"

"Stingmon!"

"Gargomon!"

"Unimon!"

"Growlmon!"

"Kyuubimon!"

"Cyberdramon!"

"Lupamon!"

"Trigamon!"

"Ferocanemon!"

"Resocorrimon!"

"Infibasimon!"

The attack slammed into the champion digimon, but when the smoke cleared, they were all unfazed. Every digimon (well, almost every digimon) had a different colored aura around it, shimmering with analyzer.

"What the hell is that?" Tai asked.

Erika and her five friends from her world were unfazed. "That's just what happens here! Now, Trigamon!"

Her tiger digimon leapt up into the air, closely followed by the other five. Each of the champions attacked. "Silver Flame!" "Tiger Claw!" "Hyper Fang!" "Auce Blade!" "Smoky Inferno!" "Earth Gaze!"

The winged horse screeched in pain as the attacks slammed into it. The digimon was knocked backwards, crushing the marketplace and several city blocks. The digimon staggered back to its feet. "Damn... it..." it cursed weakly.

"Finish him off!" Ryan yelled.

"Glady! His digimon replied.

But before Resocorrimon could attack, they heard an odd, whining, buzzing sound. As it got louder, the horse's eyes widened. "W-what? Alrea-"

A series of missiles shot down and blasted the horse. When the smoke cleared, nothing was left. The digidestined looked up.

Hundreds amount of helicopter-like creatures hovered over them. "What the hell?" Izzy said, flipping his computer open and accessing his digi-analyzer.

"Gunshimon." the computer said. "A helicopter-based digimon that Sacrosamon created solely to protect his sanctum. The digimon's duties have since expanded to guarding supply lines and weaker digimon. They have even been used on strike teams. Only one thing is sure about these digimon: you don't want to be in the way of their Combine Cannon and Missile Masher attacks."

The cannons on the underside of the digimon glowed a bright blue. "Oh shit..." whispered Erika.

With an echoing whir, the cannons spat blue destruction out at the digidestined, their digimon, and the entire city. After maintaining the barrage for a full minute, the cannons ceased firing.

The digimon waited to see if anything would try to get up and run. Nothing did.

Satisfied, the digimon beeped among themselves, then flew back to the citadel. Their mission was over.


	3. Blowing Up Stuff Just for Fun

Blowing Up Stuff Just for Fun

Shadow- "You know, this may just be a rant, but am I bad luck, or something?"

Renamon- "What'd you mean?"

Shadow- "Two of my reviewers' computers aren't working."

Renamon- "So?"

Shadow- "Let me finish: two of my four reviewers."

Renamon- "Oh. Then yeah, maybe. Fortunately, you don't own digimon."

Shadow- "Seamless. Oh, and please review."

* * *

**digital world, separate, ruins of thoda**

Smoke trickled from the broken rubble that had once been the city of Thoda. A teeming digital metropolis had been turned into dust in an instant. All was quiet.

A voice broke the calm, as some of the pieces began to shift. "Is everyone all right?"

Tai stood up, trying to get the dust out of his hair. "Yeah... sure..."

"What the heck happened?" Trish asked.

"Our digimon shielded us at the last second." Justin said. "Those 'aura' things held up long enough for some of the buildings to cover us."

"Well, are we all okay, or not?" Takato asked. He counted the people as the extricated themselves from the rubble. "...okay... just one person missing..."

The ground beneath his feet shifted, and Takato fell down. Davis' head popped up. "...five more minutes, mom..." he groaned.

Erika sighed. "That's everyone. Let's go get some payback!"

"Hold on a sec..." Izzy said, shaking the dust out of his laptop. "Can't we-"

"No! We leave now!"

Tai sighed. "Might as well..."

digital world, separate, base of citadel

"That would be it." Carrie said, as the group exited the forest.

Most of the digidestined stared up at the citadel for the first time. "Wow..." Tai muttered. "That's big..."

"Yup. Let's go." Erika said.

"...how exactly are we going to get in that thing?" Izzy asked.

"And we're not going through the sewers again!" Carrie yelled.

"Well, did you see any other ways in?" Tai asked.

Ryan looked over. "We passed an exit on the way up, didn't we?"

Carrie nodded. "Yeah! Let's use that!"

"One problem:" Aucemon said. "The opening you are referring to... isn't open."

Carrie looked up. "Maybe not..." she said. "But that one is!"

Everyone else looked up. An opening had appeared on the side of the tower, and hundreds of Gunsimon were pouring out of it.

"All right time for some action!" Davis yelled.

"Now you can see what 'Biomerging' is." Justin said to the six new kids.

BIOMERGE DIGIVOLUTION

"Blastingreymon!"

"Lunargarurumon!"

"Electrokabuterimon!"

"Avedramon!"

"Lilamon!"

"Ferrizudomon!"

"Brilliantseraphimon!"

"Luminangewomon!"

"Burningveemon!"

"Serratankylomon!"

"Ariaquilamon!"

"Metastingmon!"

"Megidrarapidmon!"

"Sepctraseraphimon!"

"Hypedragoonmon!"

"Fevouremon!"

"Katashinobimon!"

"Voltedramon!"

"Gallantmon!"

"Sakuyamon!"

"Megagargomon!"

"Hyperandromon!"

"Aquangemon!"

"Justimon!"

"Bladeleomon!"

"Violepaecomon!"

"Radisorcerimon!"

"Serracubamon!"

"Flaredramon!"

"Hurricamon!"

"Frostmon!"

"Shinimon!"

"Voltamon!"

"Twilimon!"

"Torrentmon!"

"Gravimon!"

"Tremon!

"Allosmon!"

The new digidestineds' digimon digivolved to champion, and they followed the Biomerged forms upwards.

The Gunshimons' cannons glowed bright blue, then shot flaming blue projectiles at them.

The Biomerged digimon just shrugged it off, and shot right through their formation. Behind them, destroyed Gunshimon exploded, then digitized, filling the air with a silvery cloud of metal.

The digidestined flew through the opening, and continued upwards, leaving the carnage behind.

"What now?" Tai shouted.

Josh answered "Just keep going up!"

**digital world, separate, citadel level D-4**

The digidestined ran into the same loading area that the six new digidestined had already stowed away on. The Biomerged forms just blew the area open and continued on.

They stopped short of Revemon's door. They paused listening.

They heard someone speaking. "Listen, I don't care what the risks are! I need you to open that portal so I can get away from them!"

"That's Revemon!" Erika said.

"Shh! Listen!"

Revemon continued. "Yes, I know how dangerous it is, but they're too close! If they breach my area, there's little hope for the rest of the tower anyways!"

Revemon paused, as if hearing an answer. He then continued "Damn it! You need to open that portal right now or else-"

"Now!" Tai yelled, blasting the door down.

Revemon turned from the holographic image of Sacrosamon. "Oh shit!"


	4. Breaking the Crystal

Breaking the Crystal

Shadow- "Ow... painpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpainpain pppaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnn!"

Renamon- "...a comment like that deserves only one thing: WTF?"

Shadow- "Ow... crew practice."

Renamon- "Oh." (laughs) "Sucks to be you!"

Shadow- "Thanks for your support..."

Renamon- "Meh. Shadow doesn't own digimon."

Shadow- "I wish people would review. Then again, I wish pain was money. I'd be rich!"

* * *

**digital world, separate, citadel level D-4**

"Now!" Tai yelled, blasting the door down.

The pieces of the door clattered to a stop at the feet of the large white knight digimon that stood next to the image of Sacrosamon.

"Revemon!" Erika yelled.

Revemon turned. "Damn it!" he yelled. The image of Sacrosamon disappeared as Revemon pulled a sword out of the sheath on his back. "You little... I may now be as powerful as my lord, but still... your journey ends here! Reverent Blade!"

A beam of energy shot from the sword as Revemon swung it, colliding with the Biomerged digidestineds. The attack warped to avoid them as multi-colored auras faded into being.

Revemon snarled. "Damn it! Is there no one in this world without those deplorable crests?!"

"C'mon! Let's kick some ass!" Davis yelled, and launched himself at Revemon.

Davis unslung Burningveemon's claws. "Burning Slash!"

Revemon expertly maneuvered his sword, blocking the attack and stalling Davis's charge.

Revemon grinned. "Is that the best you've got? Pathetic! Reverent Shatter!"

Davis yelled as he was thrown backwards by the explosion of blue crystal. He struggled to his feet. "Come on!" he yelled to the others. "This guy's a pushover! Let's finish him off!"

Davis launched himself at Revemon, followed closely by the other Biomerged digimon.

Revemon spun his sword to deflect the attacks, but was still knocked backwards into the crystal wall of the room, cracking it. Outlined by the broken view of the digital world, Revemon staggered up. "You little..."

He looked over the crowd of digimon before him. His arm shook slightly. Revemon looked down at his arm to stop it from quivering. "Well then... looks like I'll need reinforcements..."

He swung his sword backwards against the wall, shattering the crystal and revealing a door. The door cracked down the middle and fell apart, releasing a swarm of Gunshimon.

"Now!" Revemon shouted, as he was obscured from view by the flying digimon. "Realize the truth! You can not win!"

"Like hell!" Takato yelled. "We killed these things before, and we can do so again! Lightning Joust!"

The others added their attacks to the barrage, and the lead digimon exploded. But hundreds more took their place.

As the Biomerged digimon dealt with the Gunshimon, Revemon slipped sideways out of the battle, heading for the main entrance.

"Going somewhere?" Revemon stopped at the voice, and turned.

Erika, Carrie, Ryan, Josh, Steve, and Mark stood there, beside their digimon. Erika grinned. "Figured we might as well try this 'Biomerging' thing out." she said as her digivice began to glow.

BIOMERGE DIGIVOLUTION

"Darktrigamon!"

"Shadowlupamon!"

"Blazicorrimon!"

"Fangcanemon!"

"Bladedaucemon!"

"Venobasimon!"

Revemon laughed. "Yeah right. Get the hell out of my way."

"Not a chance!" Carrie yelled. "Silver Destroyer!"

The attack ripped a hole in Revemon's armor. The digimon coughed up blood. "W-what the fuck?" he whispered, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth.

The other five digimon attacked. "Tiger Blade!" "Triple Inferno!" "Nova Fang!" "Auce Blaster!" "Freezing Light!"

"Gaah!" Revemon screamed as the attacks deleted his arms, leg, and torso in turn. Only his head was left, staring through gaping eyes.

"You little... brats.." he whispered before the last of him vaporized.

"Yeah!!" Josh yelled, high-fiving Steve.

The Gunshimon that the others had been fighting turned tail and ran, leaving behind whole-scale carnage... and completely unhurt digidestines.

Tai turned to the newcomers. "Nice work."

Carrie grinned as she and her teammates de-digivolved. "Hell yeah! Now let's go find that Sacrosamon!"

"Easier said than done." Izzy said, de-digivolving like the others. "Looks like we have a long walk ahead of us."

Steve laughed. "Come on! If this guy was such a pushover, how bad could Sacrosamon be?"

Matt laughed. "Exactly. Now let's go!"

The digidestines turned, and ran towards the broken door. "Race you to the top!"


	5. Fun in Zero Gravity

Fun in Zero Gravity

Shadow- "More reviews (yay!) and another chapter."

Renamon- "Not really much to say... except Shadow does not own digimon."

Shadow- "Oh, and please review."

* * *

**digital world, separate, citadel level I-2**

The citadel was mostly quiet. The only sounds were the distant hum of machinery, the echoes of the previous battle, a distant thumping sound. More importantly, you could hear the footsteps of the digidestined as they ran.

The group ran down a slowly ascending hallway. "Are you sure this is the right way?" Tai asked.

Erika shrugged. "How the heck would I know? You're leading."

"I'm leading?" Tai asked. "Hold on, I thought-" he suddenly stopped talking in shock. Floating up into the air has that effect on people.

"What the hell?" Carrie asked, staring at her now airborne friend.

"Hey! Get me down!" Tai yelled.

Erika sighed. "Hold on, let me-" she stepped forward to help, and promptly began floating as well.

"Interesting..." Izzy said. "It appears that the gravitational field of the digital world cuts off suddenly..."

"Well, that's just great..." Erika said. "Now how the hell do I get down?!"

"I'm not sure you can..." Izzy said. "I think we'll have to continue onward in mid-air..."

"Oh, that's just great..." Sora said.

Tai grinned. "Hey, Sora, think of the things we could do here!"

Sora snorted. "Keep me out of your plans, you little weirdo..."

Tai looked over at Mimi. "Hey, Mi-"

"Forget it."

Tai looked disappointed. "Oh, come on..."

**digital world, separate, citadel level J-1**

The entire group moved onward in zero gravity. Zoe and Trish were not having a good time.

"Of all the fashion choices I had to make..." Trish grumbled. "Why did I choose a skirt?!"

Zoe nodded, her hands bunching up her skirt. "I know... and I see you, JP!! Don't you dare try anything!!!"

Tai sighed. "This isn't really all that fun..."

Joe looked slightly green. "I think I'm gonna be sick..."

Takuya smiled. "From no gravity, or from Zoe's skirt flying up?"

Everybody laughed. Zoe growled. "I'm gonna get you for tha-" a dull thud reverberated around the area. Takuya looked back.

Zoe and several others were trapped behind a see-through wall that had appeared from nowhere. "What the hell is this?!" Zoe yelled, holding her nose.

Izzy floated closer. "It looks like an energy wall... Sacrosamon must be trying to split us up..."

"Can you find a way around it?" Tai asked.

Erika looked back. "No... it's closed off back there, too..."

Tai shrugged. "Well, what do we do?"

"We can't just stay here..." Takato said. "We'll just come back for them later."

Kouji sighed. "Well, this is just great... you guys get to fight some bad guy, and we get to stay here and chill..."

"Hey, relax!" Takuya said. "I'd rather be with you than fight Sacrosamon!"

The others turned around. "See you eight later!" They hurried off.

Justin sighed, looking at Kari, Kouji, Zoe, Koichi, Erika, Carrie, and Ryan, who were also trapped. "Well, it could be worse... at least Kazu isn't here..."

**digital world, separate, citadel level K-6**

"Hey... do you hear that?" Sora asked.

Everyone stopped moving. The mechanical humming had gotten louder.

"Let's be careful..." Tai said. "It might be an ambush..."

The digidestined slowly floated forward, until the got to a large door. Tai pried it open.

Inside was an enormous room filled with cris-crossing rails, both the kind they had seen earlier, and the kind that Trailmon rode on. On the ground, three-legged digimon carried crates around, their feet easily staying firmly on the ground in the zero gravity. In the air, several types of digimon whizzed around, including multiple Gunshimon.

Davis tried to get the door farther open to see better, but succeeded only in making a very loud noise. Every digimon in the room looked right at them.

"I think we're in trouble..." Tai said, as the digimon flew towards them.


	6. This Much Fun

This Much Fun

Shadow- "First off today, I'd like to thank digi-writer1392 and chaos for reviewing. Oh, and if you, too, want to see your name in lights, (er... text...) then leave a review! I appreciate them!"

Renamon- "Shadow does not own digimon."

Shadow- "Now get out there and review!"

* * *

**digital world, separate, citadel level K-6**

After opening the door at the end of the hallway, and seeing the hundreds of evil digimon inside, Henry's first thought was _Okay... just be quiet... maybe they won't notice us... _Then Davis made a really loud noise. Henry sighed as all the digimon looked directly at them. _Why am I surrounded by idiots?_

The Gunshimon flew directly at them, as did several other digimon. Izzy flipped open his laptop and activated his digimon analyzer.

"Stridemon. A three legged digimon created by Sacrosamon equipped with magnets for walking in zero gravity and-" was as far as the computer got before Tai yelled "Put that thing away and get out your digivice!!"

"Sheesh..." Izzy said, closing his laptop. "you don't have to yell..."

BIOMERGE DIGIVOLUTION

"Blastingreymon!"

"Lunargarurumon!"

"Electrokabuterimon!"

"Avedramon!"

"Lilamon!"

"Ferrizudomon!"

"Brilliantseraphimon!"

"Burningveemon!"

"Serratankylomon!"

"Ariaquilamon!"

"Metastingmon!"

"Megidrarapidmon!"

"Hypedragoonmon!"

"Fevouremon!"

"Katashinobimon!"

"Voltedramon!"

"Gallantmon!"

"Sakuyamon!"

"Megagargomon!"

"Hyperandromon!"

"Aquangemon!"

"Justimon!"

"Bladeleomon!"

"Violepaecomon!"

"Radisorcerimon!"

"Serracubamon!"

"Flaredramon!"

"Frostmon!"

"Voltamon!"

"Torrentmon!"

"Gravimon!"

"Tremon!

"Allosmon!"

"Fangcanemon!"

"Bladedaucemon!"

"Venobasimon!"

"Let's go!" Tai yelled, as the first wave of Gunshimon attacked.

**digital world, separate, citadel level J-1**

Ryan looked around at his fellow digidestined who were trapped with him.

Erika was sitting next to the energy wall, staring at it, as if trying to will it to go away. Justin was sitting next to a wall, his eyes closed, apparently asleep. Kari sat next to him. Carrie stood nearby, tapping her foot impatiently. Kouji, Koichi, and Zoe were playing with some cards that Koichi had brought.

Ryan sighed. "I wish I had my Game Boy..."

Carrie looked over at him. "Why don't you go play cards?"

Ryan sighed. "You've never played any video games, have you..."

Carrie shook her head.

"Well, after you play Halo a few times, poker doesn't seem that interesting..."

Erika looked over from the wall, grinning. "We could play strip poker!"

"What?" Kouji and Ryan said at the same time.

"Umm..." Koichi said, blushing, "I don't think that's a good idea..."

"Oh, come on!" Kouji said, grabbing his brother in a headlock. "It'll be fun... but if you want to chicken out, that's okay..."

Koichi flushed even harder. "W-what? No, I mean, if you guys want to-"

"All right!" Erika yelled. "You guys are going down!!"

Erika ran over and shuffled up the cards. Ryan and Carrie came over to the game as well. "Okay..." Erika said, "What kind's it going to be? Five card? Texas Hold 'em? What?"

While the others negotiated the game, Kari watched them, then looked over at Justin. He still had his eyes closed, and his breathing was regular.

She smiled, scooted a little bit closer to him, and laid her head on his shoulder. She was soon asleep.

Justin opened his eyes slightly, looked over at Kari, then looked at the six kids playing poker. Koichi had already lost his shirt. Literally.

Justin chuckled, closing his eyes again. He whispered "I wonder if the others are having this much fun..."

**digital world, separate, citadel level K-6**

Sora screamed as one of the Gunshimon landed a direct hit on her. She de-digivolved, and lay helpless on the ground. The digimon powered up its cannon again.

"Blazing Missiles!" The Gunshimon was struck from the side, and was deleted. Sora looked up in time to see Blastingreymon (A/N: for those who forgot, that's Tai) smash a second digimon, protecting her.

She smiled, got to her feet, and went to help Biyomon.

Tai smashed another Gunshimon, then watched as three more went down successively. "Great! That's the last of them!"

"Yeah..." said Izzy, "now just the Stridemon..."

One of the Stridemon powered up its cannon. "Magnetic Cannon!" The gun made an echoing, rhythmic thocking sound as the attack hit Blastingreymon right in the chest.

Tai cried out, and fell to the round, disappearing under a barrage of attacks.

"Damn it!" Takato yelled. "Lightning Joust!"

The beam of light caught one of the digimon unaware, sending it slamming into another, both of which were deleted. The fight continued for a few more minutes, with beams of energy, flaming projectiles, and other various objects were shot and thrown at each other. When the smoke cleared, none of the enemy digimon remained. But several of the digidestined were hurt.

Tai de-digivolved and ran to help Sora. "Hey, are you okay?"

Sora smiled. "Just a sprained ankle... it'll be fine, as long as there's no gravity..."

Tai smiled. "Right." The two hurried up to meet back with the others, and continue onwards towards Sacrosamon.


	7. Two Statues

Two Statues

Shadow- "...holy crap, there are way too many digivolutions to write..."

Renamon- "You do realize everybody just skips over that, right?"

Shadow- "Yeah... but I've still got to write it all in... oh, and while we're on the subject, I apologize for so many cliffhanger endings. I know they piss people off, but they also keep you reading."

Renamon- "Right. Shadow does not own digimon."

Shadow- "Now please read and review!"

* * *

**digital world, separate, citadel level R-8**

The slowly slanting walkway within the citadel continued to spiral upwards without end. The silver walls were traced with odd gold and ruby patterns, overlapping lines that seemed to simultaneously be an unknown language and arrows that pointed them upwards.

As the digidestined continued walking, Trish sighed. "Why can't the bad guys ever build a hideout that's small and easy to reach instead of some miles high tower?"

Matt shrugged. "How should I know?"

Izzy looked over his shoulder. "I suppose that- hey!" he shouted as they all settled back to the floor. "The gravity's back!"

Henry raised an eyebrow. "Artificial gravity... I wonder why the area back there wasn't using it?"

Davis shrugged. "Maybe it was down for repairs."

Trish grinned. "Or up for repairs!"

Izzy groaned. "Trish... please don't make bad jokes..."

"Oh come on! It wasn't that bad!"

Davis blinked. "What joke?"

Tai interrupted the discussion. "Hey, there's another door up there!"

The other digidestined turned to look. The door stood several meters high, and was made out of pure silver, with lines of white and black cris-crossing it. On both sides of the door stood two enormous statues. One had the silver armor of a knight, and was holding a red shield and sword. The other had the head and wings of a dragon, held a lance in one hand and held the other hand out empty, its sharp claws glinting in the muted light.

"This looks like it." Tai said.

"Yeah!" Josh yelled. "We can finally kick Sacrosamon's as-"

"I believe your celebrations are premature." a voice said, interrupting Josh.

The digidestined looked around. "Who said that?"

"I did." one of the statues shifted, bringing its sword to bear, and pointing it right at the digidestined. The other flexed its wings, and rapped its lance on the ground once.

"You are correct about this being that sanctum of Lord Sacrosamon..." said the other statue. "But you shall not live to enter."

**digital world, separate, citadel level J-1**

"No fair!" Koichi yelled.

Justin and Kari woke up, and looked over at the group.

The game of strip poker had apparently turned into an argument.

Erika sighed. "It's not my fault you don't know the rules..."

"Well, why didn't you tell me shoes counted as two items!"

"Well why didn't you think for a minute!" Zoe said. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you wanted to strip for someone here!"

Koichi turned red. "W-what? Are you crazy? I didn't even want to play this game!"

Erika sighed. "Fine... we'll play something else... truth or dare!"

Kouji sighed. "Oh, come on... that game's old..."

Zoe sighed. "Yeah... but so's strip poker..."

Erika nodded. "Good. And since I came up with the idea... I go first! Koichi!"

Koichi finished pulling his shirt back on, and said "Yeah?"

"Truth... or dare?"

"Umm... truth."

Erika sighed. "Oh, come on! Everyone says that!"

"Fine! Dare!"

"Hmm... I dare you to kiss me!"

Koichi turned red again. "What?"

Erika burst out laughing. "Ha! Just joking! I'll let you stay with truth..."

Koichi sighed. "This is not fun..."

**digital world, separate, citadel level R-9**

As the digidestined took out their digivices, Izzy opened his laptop and activated his digimon analyzer.

"Lancedramon." the computer said. "A dragon knight who wields a lance. This digimon is a ferocious guardian, and will defend its territory to the death with its powerful Lance Thruster and Knight Flare."

"Garrimon. A silver knight who's sword can slice through the strongest metal. He will never surrender, and defeats his enemies with his deadly Blade Rain and Light Spear."

"That's it?" Tai scoffed. "Come on! We just destroyed about a hundred of those Gunshimon and... whatever those other things were."

"You will find," Garrimon said, "That we do not die as easily as those pathetic ultimate level digimon."

"Well, let's test that!" Takato yelled, as his digivice began to glow.

BIOMERGE DIGIVOLUTION

"Blastingreymon!"

"Lunargarurumon!"

"Electrokabuterimon!"

"Avedramon!"

"Lilamon!"

"Ferrizudomon!"

"Brilliantseraphimon!"

"Burningveemon!"

"Serratankylomon!"

"Ariaquilamon!"

"Metastingmon!"

"Megidrarapidmon!"

"Hypedragoonmon!"

"Fevouremon!"

"Katashinobimon!"

"Voltedramon!"

"Gallantmon!"

"Sakuyamon!"

"Megagargomon!"

"Hyperandromon!"

"Aquangemon!"

"Justimon!"

"Bladeleomon!"

"Violepaecomon!"

"Radisorcerimon!"

"Serracubamon!"

"Flaredramon!"

"Frostmon!"

"Voltamon!"

"Torrentmon!"

"Gravimon!"

"Tremon!

"Allosmon!"

"Fangcanemon!"

"Bladedaucemon!"

"Venobasimon!"

Lancedramon spread his wings, and shot towards the digidestined, his lance tracing complex patters in the air. "Lance Thruster!"

The dragon digimon slammed into Gallantmon, knocking the crimson knight to the ground. Takato pushed the digimon back using his shield, then yelled "Lightning Joust!"

Lancedramon yelled in pain as he skidded back, propelled by the force of the attack. He slammed into the wall, crushing one of his wings. Gallantmon charged. Lancedramon kicked off of the wall, opened his mouth and yelled "Knight Flare!"

The wall of fire pushed Takato back, opening up his guard for Lancedramon to attack again.

At the same time, Garrimon sliced open Blastingreymon's armor, causing the mega to de-digivolve.

As Avedramon ran to help her friend, Garrimon turned. "Blade Rain!"

The multiple blows slammed Sora back, pinning her against the wall. Garrimon yelled "Light Spe-" but was cut off as Trish yelled "Electric Slash!" and her biomerged form, Voltedramon, slammed a jolt of sizzling energy against Garrimon.

The electricity arched across Garrimon's breastplate, and he screamed in pain. The lightning still coursing through him, he turned and yelled "Light Spear!"

The blade of light, mixed with her own electricity, caught Voltedramon off guard, sending her flying back, where she ungainly crash into the ground, and inadvertently tripping Lancedramon.

Lancedramon crashed to the ground, and disappeared beneath a barrage of attacks. His screams as he was deleted were lost amongst the sound of the attacks.

Garrimon started to move to help his friend, but was knocked down by an attack from behind. He stumbled, and spun around.

Avedramon stood there, energy crackling on her fingertips. Garrimon looked at her, looked over his shoulder at the other digidestined, and said the only words that came to mind: "Oh Shit."

"Arial Cannon!" Avedramon's attack slammed into Garrimon from one side, as the others blasted him from the other. The knight digimon never had a chance.

As the smoke cleared, most of the digidestined remained biomerged. Sora grinned. "Come on! Let's go!" she yelled, turning around to kick the giant doors open, and face Sacrosamon.


	8. Sanctified

Sanctified

Shadow- "Ah, jeez... you're all gonna hate me for the ending of this chapter..."

Renamon- "Why?"

Shadow- "It's just... oh, go read it yourself!"

Renamon- "I already have. I'm just here to provide colorful banter and amuse the readers."

Shadow- "Really?"

Renamon- (sighs) "No..." (starts reading)

Shadow- "Um... okay..."

Renamon- "Shadow does not own digimon."

Shadow- "And please review!"

* * *

**digital world, separate, citadel level S-1**

Avedramon ran into the room, followed closely by the other digidestined. Sora stopped, and looked around in awe.

The floor was a pattern of glinting silver and gold, inlaid with thousands of rubies, sapphires, emeralds, amethyst, and amber colored jewels. The walls were of the same caliber, and sloped gently upwards, the apex extending out of sight. Before them floated a several hundred feet wide holographic display of the entire digital world. Next to it, near the ground, two floating screens showed the two groups of digidestined.

Izzy sighed, seeing the displays. "Well, that explains how he's been tracking us..."

"But of course." a voice drifted from in front of them. "Don't you think I'd make sure you'd fall into my traps?"

The globe of the digital world whirled downward, shrinking into the floor in a wash of static, revealing the gold and ruby Sacrosamon floating in its place, his arms crossed.

"Your traps didn't do to well!" Davis yelled. "We're all still here!"

The digimon sighed. "No, you're not, but that's not what I meant anyways... I meant you fighting Revemon, the Gunshimon, and the two guards I placed outside here. I didn't intend to kill you... just wear you down."

"Well, if you're so high and mighty," Tai yelled, "Why didn't you just face us to begin with?!"

Sacrosamon sighed. "You do have a lot to learn about tactics... an enemy is easier to defeat after it has been worn down... and that is exactly what I have done to you. Look: you're tired from fighting constantly and the horrendous climb up here. Face it: you have no energy left. You cannot win. Go home, digidestined. Your battle is pointless."

"Who cares?!" Takato yelled. "We'll still beat you!"

Sacrosamon shook his head sadly. "If you are still so stubborn... then I will forcibly eject you from this tower!"

Sacrosamon's arms shot outwards, and a blade appeared in one hand, while his other turned into the barrel of a cannon. "Die, you pathetic humans!" He shot forward, slamming into Avedramon.

**digital world, separate, citadel level J-1**

"I quit!" Koichi yelled.

"Oh come on!" Erika yelled. "It's not that bad of a game!"

"Yeah, whatever..." Kouji said. "It's getting pretty boring..."

Erika sighed, then turned to Justin. "Come on! Truth or dare?"

Justin shook himself awake. "I wasn't playing..."

"Come on!"

"Fine... truth..."

Erika paused for a moment. _Dang it... I knew just the dare, too..._ "Okay... what's your crest?"

Justin looked up. "Say again?"

"You know... your crest."

"Where'd that come from?"

"Well... I wanted to know what was up with you and Carrie sharing a crest... as well as Koichi and me..."

Justin took out his digivice. "Well... according to my digivice... it's the crest of shadows..."

Erika blinked. "Shadows? Isn't that kind of a stupid crest?"

"No stupider than light or darkness..."

"Okay..." Carrie said. "So I have the crest of shadows, to... and Erika has the crest of darkness?"

Justin nodded.

Carrie laughed. "Are you kidding me? She's British! She's the whitest girl I've seen!"

"Shut up!" Erika yelled, and attempted to tackle Carrie.

Justin sighed. "That's not what I meant..."

**digital world, separate, citadel level S-1**

Avedramon cried out as Sacrosamon slammed into her, knocking her backwards into two of her friends.

Sacrosamon slashed his sword across her chest, yelling "Sacro Sword!" Avedramon de-digivolved back into Biyomon and Sora, and several others moved to protect them.

Blastingreymon jumped over the others, and slammed into Sacrosamon, knocking the digimon back.

Sacrosamon grappled with Blastingreymon for a moment, then freed his left hand, and slammed it into Blastingreymon's chest. "Supernova Cannon!"

An explosion shook the room, causing bits of tile to fall from the ceiling. Blastingreymon staggered back, clutching the smoking hole in his armor.

Sacrosamon made to swing his sword to finish Blastingreymon, but was blasted backwards by several of the others attacks.

Sacrosamon staggered back to his feet, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth. "What the hell?!"

Tai laughed, wincing from the pain lancing from his chest. "You forgot something... we're a team... and together... we're strong!"

Sacrosamon growled. "Perhaps... but I have more tricks than that!"

"We'll see about that!" Matt yelled. "Triple Wolf Strike!"

The three missiles shot at Sacrosamon. He dodged the first two, and grabbed the third, swinging it around, and sending it right back where it came.

Lunargarurumon tried to dodge, but failed, and de-digivolved with an explosion back to Matt and Gabumon.

Sacrosamon laughed. "Was that it? I've se-" but was cut off as Gallantmon yelled "Lightning Joust!" and the bolt of energy shot at Sacrosamon. The digimon sidestepped it, and threw himself at the group of digidestined.

He slashed out at the first two, fired off a shot, before being struck from all sides by attacks. Waves of fire and steel washed over the powerful digimon, and he screamed in pain.

Then, with a fiery explosion, Sacrosamon disappeared, and the digidestined were thrown in all directions. As the smoke cleared, all that was left was a large crater, and the digidestined, about half of which had de-digivolved. Sacrosamon had ceased to exist.

"Yeah!" Tai yelled, clutching his burnt chest. "We did it!"

Laughter suddenly erupted from all around them. The digidestined looked up.

Sacrosamon stood nearby. He grinned. "Had enough fighting a copy, then? Ready for the real thing?"

"Ah, crap..." Kazu said, as Sacrosamon unsheathed his sword, laughing.


	9. Futility

Futility

Shadow- "Again, you'll get pissed off at the end of this chapter. But I have good news! The last chapter of this part is next!"

Renamon- "And then the story's over?"

Shadow- "...not quite..."

Renamon- "...how long, exactly, is this thing going to be?"

Shadow- "Um... longer than it already is?"

Renamon- (sighs) "Okay... Shadow does not own digimon..."

Shadow- "And please review! I'll thank the reviewers next chapter!"

* * *

**digital world, separate, citadel level S-1**

"Yeah!" Tai yelled, clutching his burnt chest. "We did it!"

Laughter suddenly erupted from all around them. The digidestined looked up.

Sacrosamon stood nearby. He grinned. "Had enough fighting a copy, then? Ready for the real thing?"

"What?!" Takuya yelled.

Sacrosamon grinned. "Oh, come on. You don't think I'd be that easy to defeat, do you?"

Rika, still biomerged, got to his feet. "Damn it... this was just another trick..."

Sacrosamon laughed. "Smart girl. Everything you've fought in this tower so far was just to split you up and wear you down... but I don't need to wait any longer. You're down seven people to start with, and half of you that made it here are already out of power. This fight will be simple."

"Shut up!" Tai yelled, staggering to his feet as Blastingreymon. "We might be hurt... but we can still win if we work together."

"You fools..." Sacrosamon said. "There's a limit to how far teamwork will carry you. And you've just reached it." The ruby and gold digimon raised his sword. "Now then... I'll finish you off... and the worlds will be safe..."

"Don't bet on it!" Rika yelled. "Spirit Strike!"

The multicolored fox ghosts flew at Sacrosamon. He brushed them aside with one sweep of his sword. "Come on! If you're going to attack, at least try!"

Rika fell to her knees. "T-that's... it can't be... we've lost..."

"Rika, what are you talking about?!" Takato yelled.

"I put everything I had into that attack..." Rika whispered, then slammed her fist into the ground in frustration. "And it did nothing!!"

"We'll still win! Lightning Joust!"

Tai staggered to his feet. "All together now! Blasting Force!"

Several others added their attacks, but Sacrosamon held up his left hand. The attacks froze in midair. The ruby digimon grinned. "Reversal Blaster!"

The digimon screamed as their attacks were shot right back at their, engulfing them in a wall of fire. Voltedramon de-digivolved, and Trish and Elecmon collapsed to the ground, bleeding from burns over their bodies.

Izzy growled. "Damn it! Nova Shocker!"

Sacrosamon froze the attack again. "You see what the original can do! Reversal Blaster!"

A sound of sizzling electricity and the smell of a frying bug fill the air, as Electrokabuterimon de-digivolved as well.

"This is all just an exercise in futility!" Sacrosamon yelled to the few digidestined who remained standing. "Give up now, and I will make your deaths relatively painless and-"

"S-shut up.." Takato growled. "Shut up!" He threw himself at Sacrosamon.

The gold digimon laughed. He sidestepped the rush, and clipped Gallantmon in the back of the head with his sword. The crimson knight collapsed. Sacrosamon grabbed Gallantmon's cape, and threw him back across the room. He landed next to Sakuyamon, where he de-digivolved.

"Takato... no..."

Sacrosamon methodically finished off the remaining biomerged digimon. JP tried to run, but was stabbed in the back. Mimi tried to beg, but was cut down with a single sword slash. Tai tried to fight, but took a blast to the face. Rika just stood there, tears running down her beaten face, as she was de-digivolved by a powerful blast.

After he finished, Sacrosamon looked over his work. The digidestined were lying helpless on the ground. Some had passed out, some lay clutching their wounds, and some just held each other for comfort.

Sacrosamon grinned. "Goodbye, digidestined." He said, raising his cannon, glowing with energy.


	10. Faded Memories

Faded Memories

Shadow- "Weeeeee! Last chapter of the second to last part!"

Renamon- "You sure are in a good mood."

Shadow- "Yup! Finally decided how to end the story. It's frickin' awsome. That's all I'll say."

Renamon- "...okay..."

Shadow- "Oh, by the way, do you know how many chapters everyone's read?"

Renamon- "...no... how many?"

Shadow- "This is the 90th chapter."

Renamon- "...WHAT?!"

Shadow- "Yeah, I know... crazy, huh? Especially since at the start, it was only going to be one part, with less than 15 chapters..."

Renamon- "You... are insane... fortunately, you don't own digimon."

Shadow- "Seamless. Oh, and please review. I look forward to your reading in the next (and last) part of the series!"

* * *

**digital world, separate, citadel level S-1**

The digidestined had lost.

Despite their best efforts, they now lay at the mercy of the ruby and gold digimon, Sacrosamon.

Sacrosamon grinned. "Goodbye, digidestined." He said, raising his cannon, glowing with energy.

He fired.

A sudden burst of light from nowhere lit up the entire room, forcing both Sacrosamon and the digidestined to cover their eyes.

The light faded slightly, but still remained. Sacrosamon's attack had vanished.

"What the hell?!" the digimon shouted.

"Well, it seems that my work wasn't completed..." a voice said.

Rika looked up. "...Huanglongmon? Is that you?"

"I glad to see some of you remember me..."

"How is that possible?!" Sacrosamon yelled. "I destroyed you!"

"Yes... but I transferred my data to their digivices before I was completely gone."

Takato nodded. "Yeah... you allowed us to travel between the worlds freely..."

"Yes... but that is not the only purpose my data can have..."

Sacrosamon growled. "What are you-" but was cut off as another bright flash of white light filled the room. When it had disappeared, the digidestineds' wounds were gone. Each digidestined also had an aura of brilliant color around them. They stood up.

Hunaglongmon continued to speak, his voice fading. "I'm afraid, children, that that was the last of my energy... you will no longer be able to traverse the worlds with ease... but you shall be able to defeat this enemy..."

Tai grinned. "All right!"

Davis looked down at his digivice. "Umm... why is my hand glowing?"

"It is the power of your crests..." Huanglongmon answered, his voice nearly gone. "Use it and you shall b..." his voice faded.

"Yeah!" Davis yelled.

Sacrosamon nervously grinned. "You may be restored... but I still have enough power to defeat you!"

"Yeah right!" Rika yelled. "Let's do this!"

Their digivices glowed, and they began to digivolve.

**digital world, separate, citadel level J-1**

Erika sighed. "Fine! Don't have fun! See what I care!"

Justin sighed. "Erika... give it a rest..."

Erika started to respond, but stopped when an aura of black light surrounded her. "What the hell?!"

An aura of a different color surrounded the others, as well. Kari and Kouji had a white aura, Ryan had a blue aura, Justin and Carrie had a silver aura, and Koichi also had a black aura.

"Umm... what is this?" Ryan asked, trying, and failing, to brush the color off of himself.

Justin sighed. "It must have something to do with our crests... the colors match up..."

Carrie groaned. "What the hell is going on?!"

**digital world, separate, citadel level S-1**

Sacrosamon growled as the digidestined finished biomerging. He looked over the more than thirty mega digimon in front of him. He laughed nervously. "So what if you got a power boost? I'm still strong enough to destroy all of you!"

He pointed his left arm at the digidestined. "Supernova Cannon!"

The explosion washed over the digidestined, but did little damage. Sacrosamon growled.

Takato laughed. "I guess you used up too much energy this time. I think it's time we finished you off! Shield Of The Just!"

The other digimon added their attacks, and they all swirled together, creating a maelstrom of light, fire, and steel that slammed into Sacrosamon. The ruby and gold digimon screamed.

When the smoke cleared, the digidestined were shocked to see Sacrosamon still existing. However, he wasn't doing much more than that.

He clutched a hole in his chest that went right through, with data and blood dripping from the wound. "Damn... it..." he whispered, before collapsing to the ground.

"Yeah!" Tai yelled.

"Don't... celebrate... yet..." Sacrosamon gasped. "You may have beaten me... but your world is still gone..."

Everyone stopped celebrating at this pronouncement. Izzy looked over at the fallen digimon. "...do you know how to fix it?"

Sacrosamon laughed, spitting up blood. "You've killed me, and you're asking me that?"

"Well..."

The digimon closed his eyes. "I know why you're here... I suppose it was impossible to delay it... Just do what you came here to do..."

"Restore our world?"

"Yes... and more..." The ruby and gold digimon brought his right arm in front of his face, the arm that held his sword. "This sword... was not originally part of my armor... I found it... and used it to create my empire... Ask what you must of it... it seems fate has chosen a new home for this damn thing..."

"Wait..." said Takato. "...we can ask it to do... anything?"

"It has the power... to warp spacetime... you can change anything you like... I don't care what you do with it anymore..." And with that, Sacrosamon disappeared in a cloud of data.

Takato, still as Gallantmon, walked over to the sword. It was too small to fit in his hand, so he de-digivolved. The others followed suit.

Takato picked up the sword. "Umm... so, how do I use this thing?"

_Ask what you will of me._

Rika jumped. "W-what said that?"

_I did._

The digidestined looked around.

_No, over here... down... down... there you go._

Takato looked at the sword. "So... that's-"

_Yes_.

"And-"

_Yes_.

"Can-"

_Are you actually going to ask anything?_

Takato flushed. "Sorry... can you bring back our real and digital worlds?"

_Of course, but I must warn you-_

"Can you or not?"

_...yes._

"And make sure the people there don't remember earth being destroyed." Izzy piped up.

_I only take orders from the wielder of me._

"Umm...yeah... do what he said..." Takato said.

_As you wish._

The sword glowed for a moment, then ceased. _Is that all?_

"Yeah, I thi-" Izzy started to say, but Takato cut him off. "Can you fix the world so that there's no darkness?"

_I could, but you would not believe that I did._

"What do you mean?" Trish asked.

_Most of what you call 'darkness' in your world actually has some components of light to it, and is therefore correctly referred to as 'shadow'._

"So then... if you got rid of shadow and darkness... there'd only be light?"

_Correct._

Takato nodded. "Okay then... fix the world so that darkness and shadow no longer exist, and that light can exist by itself!"

_As you wish..._

**digital world, separate, citadel level J-1**

Justin and Kari sat on the ground, playing games with the pack of cards.

"Got any threes?"

"Go fish."

Kari picked a card off the top of the deck. She sighed. "How long until the others get back, you think?"

"I have no idea... got any queens?"

Kari frowned, and picked two cards out of her hand. Justin lay down two more, to make another complete set.

Kari groaned, and looked up at the ceiling. "I'm really bored..." she sighed again, and looked back down to see Justin faded in and out. "What the heck?"

Justin looked at his hand. "I dun-" then yelled in pain as he flickered in and out of existence.

"Justin!" Kari yelled, and grabbed him and pulled him closer. Across the room, she saw the same thing happening to Koichi, Erika, and Carrie. Kouji held his younger brother.

Justin continued to fizzle in and out of existence. "Justin!" Kari yelled. "Please don't leave!"

**digital world, separate, citadel level S-1**

The sword stopped glowing. _I'm afraid there's a problem_.

"What? Why?" Takato asked.

_Light does not wish to give up either shadow or darkness._

"Can you force it?"

_Yes, but I must w-_

"Just do it!!"

The sword glowed with a red tinged light. _As you wish... _the sword said in a deeper voice.

**digital world, separate, citadel level J-1**

Kari held Justin close. He had stopped fading in and out just a few moment s ago. "Justin? Are you okay?"

"I-I think so..." Justin whispered. "I felt like... that time Takato killed me... just a sense of getting weaker and weaker..."

Kari pulled Justin closer. She whispered "Don't ever leave again..." before kissing him lightly.

Justin blushed, and whispered "I'll try not to..."

Though Justin and Kari did not notice, the other three had stopped fading as well. Kouji held his brother, and Ryan held Carrie.

The four digidestined suddenly began to fade again. This time, however, the two children of light did not protest.

After a few moments, the four digidestined, their digimon, and their digivices, were gone.

Ryan, Kouji, and Kari were left alone in the room.

**digital world, separate, citadel level S-1**

The red light faded from the sword. _It is done_.

"Good..." Takato said. "Can you take us back to our worlds now?"

_There will be transport waiting at the base of this tower._

"Good."

_Do you require anything else?_

Takato looked around at the others, then said "No, I think we're good."

_I'm sure you do..._ the sword said, before fading into nothingness.

**digital world, separate, citadel level J-1**

A quiet had descended over the room. Ryan looked around, and saw only Kari and Kouji remaining.

He scrambled over to Kari. "Kari? Are you okay? What happened to the others?"

Kari slowly looked at him. Her eyes were dull. She started to speak, failed, then finally whispered "Who's Kari?"


End file.
